After taking Huggy Bear's boys behind the shed and beating them as if they'd stolen something, Matty's club is still the fourth-best team in America. But, computers aren't as fond of our Boilers as are living beings.
Pomeroy's poll continues to confuse and befuddle by placing the Boilers at seventh place. What's noteworthy here, is that a team that causes trepidation for me, Wisconsin, is higher in this poll. My thought about Bo Ryan's team is simple- Purdue simply cannot continue to own the Badgers the way they have. Wisconsin's too good. I know, I know, Purdue matches up well with them, but Ryan's a sharp guy...and after spending a romantic summer away with Hummel in Europe, he probably knows a lot of Matty's secrets.
The RPI poll is even more curious to me. West Virginia has beaten some OK teams the last few weeks...just barely. But, when they entered into Mackey, they lost their mojo at about the ten-minute mark. Purdue, who was up by twenty-five at times, ended up beating up on WVU, as you all know...but, that thrashing helped them, I guess. They currently sit atop of the RPI rankings. Okie dokie.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again- none of this stuff matters...but wouldn't it be nice, just to warm the cockles of our hearts, to see Purdue get some props???
You ask, and you receive:
Joe Lunardi finds Matty's boys delicious...and gives them the highest seeding possible in his pretend tournament this week. Yeah, I know, I know...it doesn't matter either. You're exactly right.
Keep on winning...leave no doubt and forget about the polls.
Next up, Purdue faces Minny at Mackey at 7:00 tomorrow...hopefully, Northwestern's athletic department won't conspire against us once again.
Thanks!!
Thanks to everyone for your patience over the past few weeks. J's son is now full-grown and training to be a model like his Dad. While my daughter is pretty, healthy and tiny...and resembles her Dad in last name only, thank God.
15 comments:
Most of the bracket predictions now have Purdue as a #1 seed, which is nice that they are getting the respect they deserve. The Pomeroy and RPI ratings are all done by computers and are therefore unbiased. I know the selection committee does put emphasis on the RPI, but it is nice to know that of the four unbeatens remaining, Purdue is the highest ranked of those (#5). (KU is 7, Texas is 12, and UK is 16)
The Minny game is tomorrow, not tonight.
I'm also enjoying some of the respect we've been getting but comments like these from Fox Sport's Jeff Goodman just drive me nuts - "However, at this point in time, you can pretty much toss the top three — Texas, Kansas and Kentucky — in a hat because there is minimal disparity between their talent and accomplishments thus far."
What? You would think that Purdue doesn't even exist. Sigh. Please prove something in the tournament this year, boys, please...
The Minnesota game is tomorrow night unless you pulled some Montgomery Burns like magic and got the game moved so as to not interfere with your Tuesday night hobo fights.
I don't understand how KenPom has Wisconsin and Minnesota so high. They've had some bad losses.
Yes, I've had the Minny game moved to better suit my schedule. I hope this doesn't create any problems for you guys or the team.
Not only is WVU #1 in the RPI, but William & Mary is #2.
However, Joe Lunardi essentially thinks Purdue is #1 in the nation....?
Or does that mean he thinks they will be come March?
It's all so silly at this point. College hoops should just switch to a BCS style system. Think of all the pageantry!
Nah, Lunardi has the Boilers as the fourth No. 1 seed, so essentially the same as they are in the national rankings. As for props, Andy Katz has written a few good articles praising the Boilermakers recently ESPN.com, both as the team of the week in his Weekly Watch, and in his breakdown of the WVU game, so they're not going entirely unnoticed.
I see Lunardi has us as #3 on his S-curve, so I assume that means we're the third best. Kansas is 1, Texas 2, and UK 4. But, he has us playing the winner of the play-in, ahem, opening-round game. That's the confusing part. But, I'll take it over Glockner at SI keeping us on the 2 line behind the Dookies.
Sagarin has Purdue 5th, but he does have them 1st based on his pure wins index (ELO_CHESS).
Meanwhile, if you want commentary that intends on annoying, read DeCourcy's latest:
Purdue fans bothered by assertions their team is not talented enough to win the NCAA championship should no more consider this an insult than it would be to say their uniform colors are black and gold.
This is only marginally a matter of opinion. It's still in the realm of opinion that Purdue does not include any likely NBA lottery picks, and that will remain so until the current Boilers have completed their careers. And then it will have become fact.
It is a matter of fact that no team has won the title without a lottery pick since Kentucky in 1998.
The Boilermakers have several players who might play in the NBA—I've always believed SF Robbie Hummel had a career ahead of him—but champions in the 2000s invariably included multiple players who would become starters in the league.
Purdue certainly has the goods to make a Final Four run, and if the Boilers get there they certainly would continue to pursue a title. But in the unlikely event they were to win, they'd have accomplished that with less talent than any team since Indiana in 1987. And those Hoosiers featured an all-time college great, even if Steve Alford had an abbreviated NBA career.
I would certainly hope that once they got to the Final Four they'd try to win it, despite having absolutely no chance because they couldn't possibly win without a lottery pick player according to all the experts. I mean we all recall how Michigan State was completely written off come Final Four last year because everyone knew Goran Suton wouldn't be drafted in June until the 50th pick. Shoot, even lowly Brian Cardinal was picked higher than that (44th)! (And Carl Landry went at 31st). But somehow MSU beat Thabeet and Co. I think it is safe to say a "team" is more than one or two NBA prospects. Even North Carolina's lottery pick player was picked 13th. With so many NBA teams these days the term "lottery pick" has become somewhat diluted with 14 teams. It used to be just the top 3, then 11.
Anyway, needless to say the article epitomizes the stupidity out there.
basketball is a different animal than football jmoney.
No Matt, they're the same. When you grow up playing them, you want to win and earn a championship.
But I like the idea of 5 parallel games instead of a tournament in exotic locations...the fans could be there for a week and make a vacation out of it.
Then, each year, an ACC or BE team could be crowned Champ!
*sigh* one can dream.
The blogger at "From The Barn" is a moron. Read what he said about Chris Kramer. Its inaccurate and makes no sense. They say he is the reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, which he is not. They say he fouls every play. They also say that the reason he isn't a great defender is because he hasn't made a 3 pointer this season.
http://fromthebarn.org/2010/01/04/game-15-preview-gophers-vs-4-purdue-boilermakers/
Look at it this way: Purdue has reached the nice part of the polls, the part where they can't really make up too much ground unless someone in front of them loses. (And Purdue is gaining ground, slowly.) Even as #4, there are over 300 teams behind the Boilers.
I don't think it matters where they finish as long as they get a #1 seed. Milwaukee would definitely be the best early location, and the East Region would be the second choice for regional play if Purdue can't get the Midwest.
I'm not really sure why the computers don't like Purdue as much. I do like that kenpom has Purdue as a favorite in all Big Ten home games ...
They also say that the reason he isn't a great defender is because he hasn't made a 3 pointer this season.
Perhaps he saw the beauty Kramer made at the half time buzzer against Minnesota tonight.
They're the same? So you can play a first round football game on Thursday and a second round game on Saturday?
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